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Ajay Maken named Rajasthan general secretary incharge
In a statement, Venugopal, the Congress general secretary in charge of the organisation, said Gandhi constituted the three-member panel to oversee and ensure the smooth resolution of recent issues in Rajasthan.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday named Ajay Maken as the party’s general secretary incharge of Rajasthan in place of Avinash Pande, who was appointed to the post over three years ago.
Gandhi also named Maken, Ahmed Patel (Rajya Sabha member and Congress treasurer) and KC Venugopal as the three members of a panel the party has formed to look into issues raised by former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and 18 rebel Congress lawmakers, whose rebellion against chief minister Ashok Gehlot threatened the state government.
The development came two days after the Congress government won a floor test in the House, bolstered by the return of Pilot and his supporters to the party fold after a tumultuous month. The Congress hopes the outcome will bring down the curtain on a month-long political crisis.
In a statement, Venugopal, the Congress general secretary in charge of the organisation, said Gandhi constituted the three-member panel to oversee and ensure the smooth resolution of recent issues in the state.
On August 10, Pilot met former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Delhi in the midst of the crisis triggered by his rebellion. Their interaction appeared to have found a breakthrough. And later that night, the party announced the setting up of the panel to look into issues raised by the 42-year-old Pilot and the 18 rebel legislators, who protested Gehlot’s style of functioning and alleged that Pilot was sidelined in the state government.
Before that, on July 14, Pilot was sacked from the posts of the deputy chief minister and the state Congress president after his revolt, which was in the offing for some time. Gehlot and Pilot have had differences on a number of issues since the formation of the Congress government in December 2018.
Reacting to Sunday’s developments, Pilot said: “I am thankful to the Congress president and Rahul Gandhi for forming the committee, which will look into the issues we have raised.”
Following the August 10 meeting, Pilot announced a truce and returned to Jaipur after a month. Gehlot, too, sent out a message to his loyalists that the two groups should work together to strengthen the party. They met at a Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting a day ahead of the floor test, shook hands and flashed victory signs.
According to Congress leaders, the three-member committee will “hear all sides and also go into the details of the political turmoil” before submitting its report, including a solution to the issue, to the Congress high command.
The committee will also discuss the possible changes in the organisation and in the government. Gehlot did not fill three positions in his cabinet that felt vacant after Pilot and two MLAs loyal to him were removed in mid-July. The post of the state Congress president was immediately filled though with the appointment of Govind Singh Dotasara, believed to be a Gehlot loyalist.
A Congress leader, who did not want to be named, said removing Pande was one of the demands of the Pilot camp. Pande, who took charge on May 4, 2017, was considered close to the chief minister. Normally, a leader is in charge of a state for three years.
Another senior Congress leader, who too spoke on the condition of anonymity, said : “While the removal of Pande could be seen as a setback to Gehlot, the appointment of Maken would not necessarily mean that Pilot would hold sway.”
Pande’s replacement, 56-year-old Maken, is a seasoned politician. He resigned as the Delhi Congress president in January 2019 on health grounds. Maken, a two-time MP and a former Union minister, was appointed to the post in March 2015 after the party’s decimation in the assembly elections. Prior to that, he held the post of Congress general secretary incharge of the communications department.
The Congress high command rushed Maken and the party’s media department head, Randeep Singh Surjewala, to Jaipur on July 12 to deal with the crisis. The two remained stationed in the state till August 14, the day Gehlot’s government won the vote of confidence.
State Congress president Dotasara, who is considered close to Gehlot, said Pande worked in the state for more than three-and-a-half years and contributed to the Congress’s assembly election win. On Maken’s appointment, Dotasara said: “Rajasthan will benefit from his experience.”
Political analyst Narayan Bareth said the Congress’s decision showed that the high command did not want any delay. “The (three-member) committee looks balanced...Pande’s removal was on the cards as his three years were over.”
